Pressure Cooker Golden Cauliflower Soup (Serves 7-10)
Melissa Joulwan did the heavy lifting to create this recipe. Her Golden Cauliflower Soup appears on page 180 of her outstanding cookbook Well Fed 2. My plan was to adapt her version to the pressure cooker, but I could not stop myself from making six additional changes to create my version. It turned out to be the best soup I have ever had at home or in a fancy restaurant. I used homemade...

Pressure Cooker Ginger Cauliflower and Chicken Soup (Serves 4-5)
My wife was so sick with a bad cold that she took a day off work. She has taken a day off work sick only one other time in the past 20 years, so I took her sickness seriously and made Ginger Cauliflower and Chicken Soup. She got well within a few days. You have got to try this soup.
Making soup is a two-step process. First make Pulled Chicken and Broth and then make...

Pan Caramelized Plantains (Serves 2)
I have loved eating plantains in Cuban and Caribbean restaurants for years, but never had the nerve to try making them at home. I had looked at plantains in the grocery store and just wasn’t sure if they were good ones or if I could achieve good results cooking them at home. Then I read somewhere that a good plantain looks like a bad, over ripe banana and I finally brought two home with me. I...

Roasted Kabocha Squash
The first time I brought a kabocha squash home from the store I let it sit in my pantry until it spoiled. I guess the time from purchase to obvious spoilage was 2 months. More recently, my local farmer gave me a kabocha squash that had been purchased in his hometown farmer’s market in Michigan. I let this one sit in my pantry just two weeks before I roasted it and am now sorry I let that first one get away....

Slow Cooker Fenugreek Carrots (Serves 5-8)
This recipe has me thinking about getting a second slow cooker. One to slow cook a roast and a second to slow cook veggies without adding them in with the meat. Mixing meat and veggies in one slow cooker affects their taste and sometimes I like the results of independent cooking best. I made these Fenugreek Carrots the day after I made a Slow Cooker Rump Roast, but sometimes I want it all at once....

Turnip Salad – An update of mom’s potato salad (Serves 6-8)
My mother made the best potato salad when I was a child. I called and asked how she did it and what she described did not fit my childhood memories. Her recipe from the 1960s had changed! The taste of her potato salad is lost in history, but my modern take on her classic dish is good. I don’t know if anyone will remember this recipe 50 years from now like I...

Pan-Grilled T-Bone Steak with Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli (Serves 2-3)
Good ingredients make good cooks. Vegetables fresh from the farm taste good as long as you don’t mess them up. I try not to get in the way when I cook broccoli and cauliflower. By adding a little fat, spice, and heat, organic veggies make a wonderful meal with a grilled steak. See if you can’t impress yourself following this simple recipe.
Prep and Cook...

Pretty Decent Pickles (Serves 10-12)
The 5 or 6 small cucumbers I brought home from Cherith Farms on Saturday were the perfect size for pickles, so I made them pickles. This is my seat-of-the-pants recipe and the pickles turned out to be pretty decent. Mine pickled fast because I split the cucumbers and simmered them in the marinade for a short time on the stovetop before letting them marinate in the refrigerator overnight. I’ve been...

Tom Denham

My sleep, mood, and athletic performance improved after just a few weeks of eating real, whole foods exclusively. My body fat dropped from 30 percent to 10 percent over the course of one year eating all I wanted of meat, fish, eggs, veggies, some fruit, and lots of healthy fats from coconut, avocados, and olives, but no grains, dairy, peas, beans, sugar, processed foods, or alcohol. This approach to eating is explained in It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. Every recipe on this site meets their "Whole30" criteria AND passes my taste tests. I hope you enjoy these meals as much as I have.